The question is: will this make me faster?

Friday - August 29

Went in to see Honkamp for a look at the MRI and possible surgical options. He showed me the spot on the cartilage that was missing, and where the fragment(s) are. A point I need to make here is that the injury is not actually to the meniscus, as I previously thought. And it is actually on the medial portion, not the lateral portion. The injury is to the femoral articular cartilage, which presents a wider range of therapeutic possibilities. If it was the meniscus, we would just remove the piece and debride the defect, and that would be all.
We discussed the option of simply removing the fragment, and debriding and smoothing out the defect, as this can be done on the articular cartilage as well. This is the simplest procedure with the fastest recovery time - stay off for a few days, back to regular activity in 3-4 weeks.
He mentioned that if there is a piece of bone attached to the fragment, he could reattach it to the cartilage/bone, and it would likely heal back together, almost as good as new. This would require about 1 month of non-weight bearing, and gradual return to activity over the next 3-4 months.
He also gave me the option of making tiny punctures in the bone and cartilage to allow healing to extend out into the cartilage area and also make it nearly as good as new. This is known as microfracture surgery, and you may have heard about it with guys like Amare Stoudamire, Greg Oden, Jason Kidd, Chris Webber, etc. It seems this is a very successful procedure as long as strict adherence to post-op rehab is maintained. This again would involve non-weight bearing (crutches) for 4-6 weeks, and then a long series of PT and rehab, with slow return to activity over the next few months. If I had this procedure done, I would probably be able to get back to my regular training workouts sometime in the spring.
At this point, I think I'm going to opt for the basic scope and clean of the cartilage. I'm not prepared to be off my feet for over a month with 2 little kids at home, a job, and people who count on me to do things. If I was a professional athlete, I might say that microfracture is a good option, but for now, I don't think that's right for me. If he can reattach the cartilage, well, that's the gold standard, and I'll go with that because the long-term (lifetime) implications to "keeping all your parts" is likely very beneficial. Otherwise, if I still have problems with my knee, I can always do the microfracture later on, if that seems like the way to go.
So I'm tentatively scheduled for the scope on September 24.

Thursday - August 28

Sport

Basketball

30m

Played some light basketball in the backyard. I haven't been doing much swim/bike/run lately, but at least I've been somewhat active with the walking, golf, and basketball. No races on the horizon, plus a pending surgery have me low on the motivation right now.

Wednesday - August 27

Best intentions of a bike ride today were cancelled due to rain. I'm kind of enjoying this hiatus from workouts, but I don't want to get too used to it. There is no sense of urgency right now, since I don't have any more races this year, and I'll be having surgery sometime next month.
I did recap the last week's events. Check them out if you want. The highlight day was Saturday.

Tuesday - August 26

I was going to hit the pool today, but I didn't have time to. I'm seriously considering joining the Y due to its ease of access. I need to check on what the hours for the pool are first, as it's used by the high school for practice and meets.

Monday - August 25

Sunday - August 24

Sunday morning. A bit tired and the weekend is ending none too soon. The house is a disaster, and the people who made 10% of the mess do 90% of the cleanup. Everyone has their keys and all their body parts, so that's good.
It's a 5+ hour drive from the Dells to Ankeny. It was a beautiful morning, and 2/3 of the ride is pretty scenic, so it's not that bad of a drive. I got back in the afternoon, and we just kind of hung out with Anisa's parents who were in town for the weekend. We went to Chili's for dinner. A good weekend.

Saturday - August 23

Sport #1

Golf

2h 00m

Sport #2

Walking

30m

This was the big day. Holy cow, was this a day. This day will go down in infamy in my memory.
First, the day started with yet another short night of sleep, around 5 hours. Surprisingly, with just 5 hours of sleep every night, I never really felt tired. I think I ate a whole bag of mini-donuts for breakfast, and then knocked out Mr. Dream. It seems like there were some more Olympics this morning. When everyone finally arrived (not surprisingly, late, in some cases), we had a few rules to decide. The auction started at around 12:30, and finished at about 4:30. There were about 3 breaks for lunch and bathroom trips. There was one long discussion about players trading during the auction, which was eventually disallowed. They guy who wanted to trade (Hrtanek) had acquired Westbrook for 73, and LT for 90. So he only had 37 left over for his last 14 players.
After the auction, we went over to play some golf. Brian and Brendan Egan got a ride in my back seat to the swimming pool because they don't play golf. For some reason, Brian had his keys with him, so he put them in the front seat cupholders because he didn't want to lose them, like he had last year. (I don't know the story from last year.) We got to the clubhouse and dropped those guys off, and started golf. I shot a 42, so that was good. I started with 3 pars. When we were waiting on the 4th tee, Boris, who was playing in the group in front of me, asked if I was shooting par. I replied that, yes, I was. He was surprised. 6 straight bogeys got me a 42.
Somewhere in here, the final Olympic rankings were decided (by me, at least). 1. Jennie Finch, 2. Lolo Jones, 3. Alicia Sacramone, 4. Natalie Coughlin, 5. Hope Solo, 6. Diana Taurasi (I was on her side).
When we finished, we went back to the house for dinner. Someone was cooking the rest of the burgers we had. While I was pounding some chips, and a beer or two, Brendan came up to me and asked, rather angrily, what had happened to Brian's keys. I told him where they were, and thought little of it. About 2 minutes later, I went out on the porch, and Brian was yelling at Jeremy, Boris, and Jay Hoover about hiding his keys, where are they, GD this, F-U that. I said, hey, they're in my car. He stormed off. About 1 minute later, Brendan comes out and starts yelling about why would we hide Brian's keys, how did he find them in my car, why would he even look there. I tried to explain, but he just couldn't follow A to B to C. Brian still thought we had tried to hide them from him, saying why the hell would he want to put them in my car. I said I have no idea why he thought my car was the best place for them, but I just complied with his wishes to put them there.
After this nonsense went on for 10-15 minutes, it became obvious that neither of them even remembered getting into my car to get a ride to the pool. We finally convinced them that we weren't lying to them or trying to trick them. So for the rest of the night, they kept talking about how drunk the other one was, and how grateful they were that I knew where the keys were. They each wanted to buy me drinks for the rest of the night, but I wouldn't let them.
Now the fun begins. We headed over to the bar, walking, obviously. (For some reason, I decided it would be a good idea to run home at the end of the night, so I challenged everyone to a race. Only Hrtanek took the bait, and he was easily destroyed). It just so happened that it was karaoke night at the Northwoods Bar and Grille. The night started with some harmless Neil Diamond and country/western. The bar started to fill up with a unexpectedly diverse group. There were a lot of different singers, singing everything from c/w, rock, R&B, alternative, oldies, etc. Jeremy got the place warmed up with a kickass rendition of Yellow Ledbetter. Things got rocking with 50 cent and Aretha Franklin. Then the drinking contest was called.
Remember, this was the last night of the Olympics - both 4x400 relays were on TV, and the US won each easily. So the bartenders play the Olympic theme music, and ask for 4 volunteers for a drinking contest. I don't know if you've ever seen Stangl shotgun a beer. He's our nomination.
The four contestants (3 guys and 1 girl) line up in front of the karaoke equipment with a 16 ounce cup of beer. Stangl has a hat on backwards and a calm, almost bored look on his face. I think he was just focusing. They ask for everyone's names - Stangl decides to go with "Felix." The other three are irrelevant. The rules are simple: on the count of 3, everyone drinks their beer as fast as they can; winner is the first one with an empty cup. One. Two. Three. "Felix" tips his head back, and in less than 2 seconds he's walking off the stage, with the cup already tossed over his shoulder. Phenominal!!!!! The whole bar is chanting, "Felix, Felix, Felix..." Just hilarious.
The finale is about an hour later when karaoke is getting ready to wind down. Felix and I bring the house down with "Jump Around." This was my first attempt at karaoke, and judging by the crowd reaction, it was a smashing success. The only problem is that I twisted my ankle during the last chorus, while jumping, of course. And I was completely sober. And that last sentence was false.
I also stayed up until 3:30 watching the gold medal basketball game. It was a very compelling game, so I was really into it in the second half. A good outcome made me feel that much better when I went to bed.